Gaseous curtain for ventilating exhaust



April 22, 1952 c, SCHNEIBLE 2,593,702

GASEOUS CURTAIN FOR VENTILATING EXHAUST Filed April 1;, 194a 'all'elsheets of air or other 'gas.

Patented Apr. 22,1952

GASEOU S CURTAIN FOR VENTILATING EXHAUST Claude B. Schneible, Detroit,Mich. Application April 13, 1948, Serial No. 20,666

4 Claims.

This invention relates to gaseous curtains for U ventilating exhauststructures.

The invention is particularly useful in the treatment of fumes, smoke,particle-laden gas, chemical vapors, etc. By the term' gas, as employedherein, I mean' not only inccndensable gaseous materials but condensablevapors, etc.

An object of the invention is to provide ventilating exhaust equipmentin conjunction with means for forming air or-other gaseous curtainsabout one or more sides of a source of smoke, fumes, particle-laden gas,chemical vapors, etc., so as to confine them in an area adjacent theintake of the ventilating exhaust equipment. A further object is toprovide in such a structure, means for providing a plurality of gaseouscurtains with the result that one curtain is effective in projecting theother curtain for a greater distance than it would go without suchassistance while at the same time providing an outer curtain of cleanair or warm air as a protection for the operator. Yet another object isto provide ventilatin exhaust equipment wherein contaminated gaseousmaterial or air is used to form an 'eifective curtain about a column ofsmoke, vapors, etc., while at the same time there is formed an outersheath of non-contaminated air or gaseous material which protects the-op erator from said contaminated'air curtain, etc.

Still another object is to provide an air curtain which may be employedfor any purpose and which consists generally of cold air or othergaseous material while at the same time providenable it to be projecteda greater distance.

Such arrangement is shown more clearly in my co-pending application forAugmented Jet, Serial No. 698,512. It will be understood that anydesired number of air curtains may be formed in the parallel relationdescribed.

.In ithe 's pec'rfic illustration set out, I provide two air curtainsformed by nozzles which may be elongated to provide relatively narrowpar- This arrangement permits the use or" contaminated air or gas forthe inner sheet or curtain while the eporator is protected through theuse of an outer curtain of relatively pure air which may be heated orotherwise treated for the benefit of the operator, etc.

In the illustration given, I provide an exhaust intake Ii] communicatingwith the conduit H connected with any suitable source of suction.

material.

In order to prevent portions of the rising gaseous material fromescaping into the room, while at the same time, giving the operator freeaccess to the source of the gaseous material, I provide a nozzle I6having an outlet I! from which is discharged an inner curtain of air orother gaseous material. Preferably the outlet l'l is elongated so as toprovide a relatively wide curtain of air which will enclosesubstantially one side of the source of the gaseous material. However,for certain uses, the port ll may be relatively short and for otheruses, it may be semi-circular or otherwise shaped to provide a curtainof the desired contour. If desired, the outlet port of the dischargednozzle It may be so extended as to cover two sides or all four sides ofthe material which is .the source of the rising fumes, smoke, etc.,asdescribed more fully in .my co-pending application for VentilatingExhaust Structureff bearing Serial No. 16,307, which has matured intoPatent No. 2,565,933.

' The ventilating exhaust formed by the intake H} .and conduit 11, may,if desired, consist of a plurality of suction intakes communicating withseparate conduits, as described more fully in my co-pending applicationfor Gas Treating Apparains .and Method, Serial No. 1533s, which hasmatured into Patent No. 2,579,401.

Communicating with the curtain forming nozzle I6 .is a conduit 18equipped with a powerdriven fan 19 for forcing air through the nozzleoutlet IT. The conduit 18 may llead to any source ,from whichcontaminated or partially contaminated air maybe picked up. Further, ifdesired, the conduit :8 may lead to a point exterior of the bu'ildingiorthe picking up of cold ant.

When contaminated air or .cold air is introduced through conduit 18,there is danger of injury to the operator who is working with the sourceof gaseous material supported upon the floor {5 adjacent the intake 10.In order to protect the operator from the contaminated or cold airstream forming the inner curtain, I provide a second conduit 2!! whichmay lead from the room itself in which the air is relatively clean andrelatively Warm and may be discharged by the fan 2| through a nozzle 22having a port 23 substantially similar to the port [1. Port 23 ispreferably supported so as to deliver an air stream or curtain which issubstantially parallel to the curtain discharged by port 11. v

Should the pipe 20 lead from a source of con- I taminated air or coldair, I prefer to pass it through a filter 24 supported within conduit 20and also through the heater 25 supported in conduit 2! If warm air isbeing circulated from the room, the heater 25 may be cut off. Any meansfor furnishing heat to the heater structure 25 may be provided. In thespecific illustration given, electric. resistance elements 26 are shown.It will be understood, however, that a steam heat exchanger or othersuitable means for heating the air may be employed.

Operation In the operation of the apparatus, the casting or other sourceof the rising column of gases, fumes, smoke, etc., may be brought bycar, crane or any other means of conveyance to a position on the floor[5 adjacent the ventilating exhaust intake 10. Contaminated or cold airor a gaseous body from any source, may be introduced through the pipeand discharged through nozzle 16 to form a curtain about the source ofgaseous material on one or more sides thereof. By enveloping the sourceof gaseous material or the rising column of gaseous material, escape ofany portion thereof is prevented and such material is confined about theintake until it can be efiectively drawn off. At the same time, however,the operator who is standing on the floor l5 opposite the intake l6 andthe air curtain discharged through port I1, is protected from thecontaminated air or unheated air by an outer curtain 23 which consistsof relatively pure air and air which may be heated. If the conduit 18 isemployed for forming a gaseous curtain of extremely hot air or othergases, the conduit 20 may be employed for passing cold air through thenozzle 22 to form an outer sheath of cool air which protects theoperator from the inner curtain of hot air, etc.

The outer stream formed by the nozzle 22v not only provides theprotection for the operator described above but also serves to eliminatefrictional resistance to the, outer side of the ,air curtain from nozzleit and thus causes the inner air curtain to be projected for a greaterdistance downwardly toward the floor I5 where it serves not only as ameans for confining the smoke, etc. within the area but also it suppliesthe carrier fluid needed for withdrawing the contaminated material. Inaddition, the outer curtain of air as it approaches the floor [5 turnsinwardly to provide additional carrier fluid serving as the conveyingmeans for removal of the contaminant.

In the foregoing description, a specific embodiment has been set out anddescribed in connection with a specific form of ventilating exhaust. Itwill be understood that there are many forms in which the air curtains.may be employed and in which the methods described herein may be used.

While in the foregoing specification, I have set forth a specificstructural embodiment in great detail for the purpose of illustratingthe invention, it will be understood that the details of such structureand of the method steps de scribed may be varied widely by those skilledin the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In ventilating exhaust apparatus for the treating of a rising columnof gas, a hood having an inlet opening, supporting means for said hoodand supporting the inlet portion of said hood at an inclination withrespect to said rising column of gas whereby the lower portion of saidhood is at one side of said column and the upper portion of said hoodextends into said, column, a suction pipe communicating with said hood,and a pair of pipes provided with elongated parallel discharge openingssupported adjacent the upper forward edge portion of said hood, saidoutlets being directed outwardly and downwardly across said risingcolumn of gas, and means for discharging air through said outletopenings to form parallel curtains of air across said rising column andon the outer side thereof opposite said hood.

2. In a method for treating a rising column of gas, the steps ofwithdrawing a portion of said rising column in a stream along one sideof said rising column, discharging a curtain of air about the oppositeside of said column of gas, heating a body of air and discharging aportion thereof in a plane substantially parallel with and contiguouswith the path of said first-mentioned curtain of air to provide a warmcurtain of air about said first-mentioned curtain.

3. In ventilating exhaust apparatus for the treating of a rising columnof gas, a hood casing providing a chamber having an inlet opening alongone side of said rising column of gas, supporting means for said hood, asuction pipe communicating with said hood, a casing providing a pair ofdischarge chambers adjacent the upper forward edge portion of said hood,and a pair of pipes leading from different sources of air separately toand communicating with said casing chambers, said discharge openingsbeing directed outwardly and downwardly across said rising column ofgas.

4. In a method for treating a rising column of gas, the steps ofwithdrawing a portion of said rising column in a stream along one sideof said rising column, discharging a curtain of air about the oppositeside of said column of gas, collecting a body of air cleaner than theair forming said first-mentioned curtain, and discharging the same in aplane substantially parallel with and contiguous to the path of saidfirst-mentioned curtain of air to provide a protective curtain of airabout said first-mentioned curtain.

CLAUDE B. SCI-INEIBLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,185,919 Kurth Jan. 2, 19402,210,458 Keilholtz Aug. 6, 19%0 2,257,516 Roche, Jr. et a1. Sept. 30,1941 2,438,606 I-Iulton Mar. 30, 1948 2,579,401 Schneible et al Dec. 18,1951

